Benue state governor’s wife, Mrs Eunice Ortom, revealed that the state is now ninth on the log, an improvement from its former number one position in the country.

According to her, Benue had over the years been rated highest in HIV and AIDS prevalence, but that the recent results show that their journey to achieving zero cases is not far off success.

She said: “Benue had the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Nigeria, but due to the dedicated and collaborative efforts of BENSACA and other partners, the state had been lifted to be the ninth in the country.

“Our focus over the years is to get to zero prevalence, which implies zero infections, zero HIV-. deaths and zero discrimination against persons with the virus.”

Mrs Ortom noted also that the idea is to break the Guinness World Record on HIV test by testing and issuing results to 10,000 persons to ensure quick access to testing and counseling by the people of the state.

“The concept of testing 10,000 persons and producing results within eight hours is, therefore, not just an exercise for the purpose of breaking the Guinness World Record, but to send a strong message to the world.

“The message is that testing is the first step to prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS and everyone needs to know his or her status,” she added.

About two months ago, a report was made public, where it was revealed that about 3.4million Nigerians were living with HIV/AIDS.